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PART 1. Why Your Business Needs a Mobile Website 4

A Brand New Breed of Consumer 5Mobile-Aided Shopping 7Mobile Users Going Local 9How to Boost Your Business’s Reach 10Non-Mobile Friendly 12

PART 2. Mobile Website in a Nutshell 13

Responsive Website vs. Mobile Site 14Mobile Site vs. Desktop Website 15Desktop Website 16Mobile Site 17Key Features of a Mobile Site 18Loading Speed 19Friendly Navigation 20Direct Contact 21Direction & Location Maps 22Essential Information 23Go Mobile 24Sources 25

Preface 3

Mobile Website Your Secret Weapon in Gaining a Competitive Advantage

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Preface

Over the recent years we have been witnessing a dynamic expansion of new technologies. Due to the convenience that mobile devices have ensured we began to adapt them to completing our daily routines. The model of a typical consumer has evolved, too. Consumers have changed their purchase behaviors and started to use smartphone as the primary medium in this process.

In our e-book we aim to highlight and explain the need for small and medium businesses to get ready for a customer of a new type functioning in a different context than ever before – a mobile consumer. Business owners keep underestimating the potential of mobile devices and it seems that the lack of knowledge about their users might be the fundamental problem.

We hope that our e-book will help better understand expectations of mobile consumers, which will let entrepreneurs achieve their business objectives within the most dynamically developing sales channel.

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PART 1

Why Your Business Needsa Mobile Website

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A Brand New Breed of Consumer

Have you noticed how consumers and their purchase behaviors have changed over the last few years?

Today consumers have an unlimited access to information on products and services. Using free tools available on the Internet they can compare prices and purchase conditions, verify suppliers, or even create summaries of similar products. All this to get better prepared for making a purchase decision. The idea dates back to 1980, when Alvin Toffler, a futurologist, coined the term prosumer, contracting two words – producer and consumer, to describe the emerging type of proactive consumers. Prosumer, or a typical today’s consumer, is an active customer comparable to a professional. The new consumer no longer relies solely on traditional advertising, but looks for information on their own initiative.

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A Brand New Breed of Consumer

When making a purchase decision, they have a broad knowledge of the product and its features, the competition, as well as other consumers’ opinions. According to 71% of the respondents who participated in a research carried out by B2B Marketing portal in 2012 – the main source of this information is the Internet.

Is your business’s website ready for the latest revolution among prosumers – a shift towards mobile devices?

More and more people are resorting to smartphones and tablets for their daily activities. It is predicted that by 2015 more users will be accessing the Internet on mobile devices than on desktop computers. If your strategy for gaining customers does not account for the behaviors of today’s consumers, you will be losing them month after month.

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Mobile-Aided Shopping

Consumers increasingly use mobile devices to search for information on products and, as a result, to make online purchases. This trend has been supported by a number of studies carried out by Google, among others, which show the great potential of the technological revolution for small and medium businesses.

We have been witnessing a vast expansion of the mobile network globally. Global mobile traffic increased by 81%1 over the previous year, exceeding 18 times1 the size of the entire global Internet in 2000! It is estimated that by 2015 more users will be accessing the Internet on mobile devices than on desktop computers. According to Cisco, by 2018 smartphones will have already accounted for 66%1 of global mobile traffic. As of now 77%2 of mobile searches take place with the desktop computer being available at hand.

66%of global mobile

traffic will come from

smartphones by 2018

77%of mobile

searches take place near a

computer

24%of consumers

tell others about local businesses found via

smartphone

38%of mobile

consumers make

a purchasefrom thesebusinesses

81%increase in

global mobile

traffic in 2013

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Mobile-Aided Shopping

Moreover, 77%3 of mobile users aid their shopping processes with mobile searches. Smartphone owners use their devices to look for information on businesses located in their neighborhood and then call them, check their location on the map, enter their website, or even visit the business.

24%3 of local information seekers recommend businesses and services they find this way to others, or leave their opinion on the Internet. Almost 40%3 of these users make a purchase – either online or in-store. These numbers show how important it is for SMBs to have an appropriate mobile website.66%

of global mobile

traffic will come from

smartphones by 2018

77%of mobile

searches take place near a

computer

24%of consumers

tell others about local businesses found via

smartphone

38%of mobile

consumers make

a purchasefrom thesebusinesses

81%increase in

global mobile

traffic in 2013

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Mobile Users Going Local

Smartphones provide us with an easy access to information on what we can find in the neighborhood. This is why optimizing businesses’ websites for viewing on mobile devices is crucial for their potential customers.

An astounding 94%3 of all smartphone users look for businesses in the vicinity. 84%3 of them take consumer action as a result – contact the business, visit its office, make a purchase from the business, or recommend it to others. That is why it is so important for your website to be mobile friendly and display well on mobile, as well as enable potential customers to contact your business directly. As many as 64%3 of people choose this way of reaching companies after finding local information. When you further promote your mobile site with location based advertising, you will take full advantage of the potential that the smartphone gives to local businesses.

of smartphone users search for local businesses

94%

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How to Boost Your Business’s Reach

Most small and medium business owners do not know how easy it is today to boost their company’s reach for free.

Since it is the Internet that has nowadays become the main source of information about businesses, you should make sure the information about your company is easily accessible via the Google browser and Google Maps, visited everyday by millions of users. Google My Business, which is a free service, enables you to create such a digital business card in minutes. When you make sure that complete and detailed information about your business is on the Internet, your customers will easily find you via the Google browser. Thanks to Google My Business, your digital business card will appear already in the search results.

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How to Boost Your Business’s Reach

It will contain your business’s contact details, its opening hours and driving directions, or a link to your website.

Make sure the link redirects to an attractive and functional mobile site. When your potential customer enters your website, you will only have a few seconds to persuade them to try out your services. That is why by creating a mobile site for your company, you will get fully prepared for a today’s customer – mobile consumer.

Get a free guide to designing mobile sites.

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Non-Mobile Friendly

A research by Google shows what danger underestimating mobile users may bring.

An astounding 96%4 of mobile consumers have visited a website that was not optimized for viewing on a smartphone or tablet. And the less a website is mobile friendly, the more they are willing to quit browsing, lose interest in the company, or even totally abandon the purchase intention.

96% of mobile users have visited a website that was not optimized for viewing on a mobile device

Check out how many mobile customers you miss out on every day.

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PART 2

Mobile Website in a Nutshell

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Responsive Website vs. Mobile Site

Companies that are preparing for a mobile customer have a hard choice ahead: a responsive website (RWD), a separate mobile site, or a native application. Which way to go? It is not possible to give a one-for-all answer. The choice depends on the company’s strategy, complexity of the solution, available budget and programming resources or, finally, the time that they are ready to wait for a complete solution. Small and medium businesses that want to reduce costs and prepare for a mobile customer in a matter of days, may well create a professional mobile version of their website themselves, using ready builders available on the Internet. Using mobile website builders involves the cost of around €50 a year. Big companies will most probably decide on professional interactive agencies. The budgets for these solutions will approach several hundred Euros, on average. The price depends on various factors, such as the complexity of the solution, integration with external services, or the applied technique.

Not sure which solution is the best for your company? Find out more about the dif-ferences between a responsive website, a mobile site and a native app.

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Mobile Site vs. Desktop Website

What influence will a mobile site have on your desktop website? A dedicated mobile site is a separate and independent website, which you automatically redirect mobile device users to.

What does it mean? If someone searches for your company and then opens your website on a mobile device, or simply enters your www address into the Internet browser of their smartphone or tablet, they will see your mobile site. Users who open your website the same way on a computer, will see your desktop website. Creating a new mobile site does not involve rebuilding your desktop website – it is a valuable extension to it. What is more, each of them can be both created and maintained by a different company.

What is, then, a fundamental difference between a desktop website and a mobile site optimized for viewing on mobile devices?

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Desktop Website

A desktop website is not suitable for viewing on a smartphone because:

• it is “heavy” and loads too long on a smartphone

• its navigation is intended for operating with a mouse

• it is uncomfortable to view it on a small smartphone screen (you need to enlarge and swipe content)

• it is overloaded with content, which makes it difficult to perform typical “mobile” actions, such as finding the company’s location or contacting its staff quickly

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Mobile Site

A mobile site:

• is “light” and loads fast on a smartphone

• its navigation is designed for touch operation

• is optimized for viewing on a smartphone screen

• and oriented on mobile users’ actions – it is equipped with tappable phone numbers or driving directions

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Key Features of a Mobile Site

The reasons for a shift from standard solutions to mobility are quite evident. Smartphones and tablets are irre-placeable when it comes to immediate access to information. Mobile users can connect to the Internet almost anywhere – in a traffic jam, on a bus, or in a queue.

What are, then, the key features of a good mobile site from this perspective?

• loading speed• friendly navigation• direct contact• direction & location maps• essential information

Learn all features that consumers want on your mobile site.

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Loading Speed

Mobile users demand high loading speed. Most of them expect a website to load within 3 seconds on their device. Otherwise they will leave and, what is worse, they will not return to it. If you do not have a website optimized for viewing on mobile devices, it may take even half a minute for your desktop website to load on a mobile device. During this time your potential customers will close your website and you will miss out on new clients. This is why in the first place you should make sure your website loads in a matter of seconds.

Google recommends that mobile sites should render in under 1 second6

On average a desktop website loads 10 seconds on a smartphone510s

1s

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Friendly Navigation

Navigation is as important as the loading speed of the mobile website. Mobile users should be able to perform the most important actions from the level of the homepage and reach essential content from every single page.

It is a good practice to place a “Back” button both at the bottom of the subpages and in their upper part. We also need to remember that mobile users tap the screen with their fingers, so another good practice is to use larger buttons. It is recommended to design buttons at least 45 - 47 pix high.

Scan to open on a smartphone

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Direct Contact

A well-designed mobile website enables direct contact with a local business.

By adding “click-to-call” and “click-to-sms” buttons on your mobile site you will make sure your potential customers will be able to contact you at a single finger tap. Whereas by placing a contact form you will let them quickly ask questions about products and services they may be interested in. Thanks to these solutions your customers will contact you whenever they find your offer attractive.

Scan to openon a smartphone

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Direction & Location Maps

The majority of modern mobile devices are equipped with a built-in GPS system.

Therefore, by integrating your mobile website with services supporting maps, you can guide your potential customer straight to your door. How to do this? Today you can enrich mobile sites with maps providing driving directions from any location right to your business. Attracting customers has never been that easy!

Scan to open on a smartphone

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Essential Information

Mobile consumers look for specific information. The type of content that is desirable on large screens may be perceived merely as additional information on smaller devices.

To avoid excessive amount of content, what you should do on mobile websites is highlight only essential information and hide longer descriptions under headings that expand only after a user interested in learning the details taps it. Scrolling down a lengthy page is inconvenient for mobile users and hinders quick access to essential information, which discourages users from staying on the website.

Scan to open on a smartphone

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Go Mobile

We have presented sound reasons why you should adjust your business’s website to the needs of mobile device users. A desktop website is no longer enough.

Today you can create a professional mobile website yourself, in a few minutes. Online builders available on the market allow anyone with an access to the Internet to quickly create a website on their own. Working with such builders involves actions that we are all familiar with from programs like Word and does not require advanced computer or programming skills. It turns out that modern technology does not necessarily involve technical knowledge and might be an inexpensive solution, affordable for any business owner.

Do not wait until your competitors take away customers right from your doorstep – go mobile! Mobile sector is the future, therefore if your small or medium business is to survive, you need to adjust it to the new digital reality.

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Sources

1. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2013-2018, February 2014, Cisco

2. Mobile Search Moments Study, March 2013, Google

3. Our Mobile Planet: United States of America – Understanding the Mobile Consumer, May 2013, Google

4. What Users Want Most from Mobile Sites Today, September 2012, Google Think Insights

5. Global Site Speed Overview: How Fast Are Websites Around The World?, April 2012, Google Analytics

6. Common mistakes in smartphone sites, Google Developers

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www.activemobi.com

A quick and simple way to start selling mobile websites under your own brand or create a mobile website for your business.

Web design agencies, developers, and marketing teams use ActiveMobi white label platform to create and sell mobile websites to small and medium businesses.

Business owners may create a mobile website themselves using the DIY builder or have a professional site created by ActiveMobi’s team of designers in up to 5 days.